


Never Look Back

by Lirillith



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-06 01:39:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1100904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lirillith/pseuds/Lirillith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kyoko learns how to make it on her own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Look Back

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Steelneko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steelneko/gifts).



One of the first things Kyoko had to learn once she was out on her own was how to steal, not just by swiping cash and food, but by conning people, smooth-talking them, letting herself into places and helping herself to things like she had a right to them. 

What surprised her was that it was both easy and _awesome,_ and she didn't even feel guilty. Her dad's voice might sometimes come back to her, _Thou shalt not steal,_ but screw that, Daddy. Thou shalt not kill, either. She didn't have to honor a father and mother she didn't have anymore. She'd uncovered a talent she'd never have found otherwise. She was _good_ at this. And she only got better with practice; better at reading people, more confident, sneakier. 

Plus she learned how to magic both drinks and coins out of vending machines, which was just funny. Tickle one with a tiny little feather of magic and it'd spit goodies like a slot machine in a movie. 

So she'd walk out with a soda and pockets weighed down with change. There was only so much junk food you could carry when you were sleeping in bus stops and at all-night restaurant booths. What else was she going to do with all that? Dog Drug Reinforcement was her favorite, but she was a master of half the games in her favorite arcade within a month. 

Mami disapproved, of course. Of all of it: dropping out of school, spending all her time in arcades, living off junk food. Mami wanted Kyoko to move in with her, enroll in school and eat balanced meals, trade the Kit-Kats for tea and exquisite home-baked cakes. "When was the last time you had rice?" Mami would ask. "You're going to make yourself sick."

Kyoko just laughed it off. She felt better than ever, invincible and hardened. She was a demon-killing machine fueled by Pringles and Pretz. Loneliness was a word she and Mami never spoke.


End file.
